Gamut's S5

I caught up with the always affable Lars Goller of Gamut who was very proud of the company’s new S Series speakers. Here we see Goller standing beside the S5 ($30,000/pair), which boasts a very attractive cabinet made of form-pressed solid wood over multi-layered Finnish Beech ply. Externally machined canals in the speaker’s side panels divide the speaker into segments to better control vibrations and minimize coloration, Goller explained. In addition, two large port openings of 5mm-thick solid machined aluminum are threaded directly into the speaker’s rear panel to minimize port turbulence and noise.

The S Series, Goller explained, is basically a refinement over the company’s L Series speakers“an attempt to take our design principals to the extreme”with improved time-alignment and a greater emphasis on energy distribution.

The speakers were partnered with Gamut’s CD 3 CD player, D3i dual-mono preamplifier, and M250i power amp. Jack Johnson had a smooth, coherent sound, with nice detail to the acoustic guitar, and Dire Straits was conveyed with a very wide soundstage, solid images, and deep, heavy bass.

The standard scan-speak 18W/8531 is a very nice drive unit, and due to the relatively high numbers this driver is produced in (compared to other 'high end' manufacturers) it is quite cost effective. at $200 I would go buy it.If the main issue in designing speaker were just putting drivers in a box I would follow your recommendation. I am sure I can speak for all my colleagues in the speaker industry when saying that this is a s far from the thruth as you can get.The only analogy I can think of is ordering a set of strings for a stradivari violin and expect to be able to create the same instrument.